User:Meneliel/Lovage Longburrow

Lovage Longburrow
Miss Lovage Longburrow
Heirs of the Mariner
World:	Landroval
Vocation:	Woodworker
Class:	Hunter
Race:	Hobbit
Region:	The Shire
Age:	40s
Height:	n/a
Sex:	Female
Skin:	Fair
Hair:	Brown
Eye:	Brown

Description

Physical Description: A Hobbit lady of a certain age, Lovage is nonetheless proud that she's kept her comfortably round figure. She has long brown hair that she generally keeps in a prim bun. Her skin is tanned and rosy, and her eyes are brown. When at home she wears proper hobbit-styled clothing, well-made as befits an upper-middle class hobbit of respectable means, but tending toward the practical side. Her main vanity is the suit of leather armor made for her by Elves of Rivendell when she guested there. Made of the softest hides, beautifully dyed and embroidered, the suit is not all Lovage's usual sort of garb. Yet she adores it and wears it with her head held high. Heaven help us all if anything should ever happen to it.

Personality Description: Lovage is extremely proper and prim, tending toward the prudish. Social niceties and correct manners are of the utmost importance to her. She is very aware of matters involving class, family, and one's proper place. Sometimes seen as shrewish and sharp-tongued, she shares her opinions freely and often. A stubborn and determined little thing, she might be described as an irresistable force when she's after something in particular. She is basically good-hearted, however tiresome, and she tends to fuss and worry over her friends and relatives, giving copious amounts of advice about health, diet, and behavior.

Bio

Oh, there you are! Come over here for a moment. See that rather prissy middle-aged Hobbit over by the mailbox? Yes, the one with the disapproving look. Do you know Lovage Longburrow? Why, you don't? Hmmph. Well, as my mother always said, if you don't have something nice to say, come sit next to me...!

That Lovage is a spinster and quite content to have remained a Longburrow (not related to the Longburrow-Poddles of Frogmorton, thank you very much!) Oh, she's happy enough to have the old family home to keep up and her bachelor brother Borago to look after. And he does take a good deal of looking after, fussy and prim as he is prone to be (that's him there, the stuffy one in the waistcoat). As it happens, Lovage is just as fussy, so she's able to meet him head-on. If she has developed into a bit of a scold, well, it's likely to be expected, I shouldn't wonder!

(Though I imagine it hasn't done much for her prospects of becoming respectably married.)

As I was saying, she's always been happy enough to be here in Budgeford, or so you'd think. Something seems to have gotten into her these days! If you ask me--and you really ought--it all started when those pesky deer got into her cabbages. You see, she's always been proud as a puffed-up hen over that garden patch her mother and her grandmother worked all those years. And I have to say, that patch has produced a fine cabbage or two! As you can see, Lovage never misses a meal if she can help it (Oh! don't repeat that!) and when she found half her cabbages ruined, why--she dug out an old bow that I imagine belonged to her grandda or somesuch thing. And she learned how to use it!

I tell you, I never!

My, it was quite funny, I have to say. At first, she was a positive menace with the thing (Old Lady Shortfoot still can't pass a window without cringing) but she just kept at it! Oh, of course Borago was completely scandalized by this remarkable behavior, and to my way of thinking, that just made Lovage more determined than ever to keep after that dangerous weapon. It was duck your head and run every day for a while, I tell you...

But, you know, she actually seems to have gotten rather good at it, I must admit. (Not that you'd ever hear her say differently; did I mention she's as proud of herself as a hen on a nest?)

Well, as I was saying, she kept after it for ages, and what do you know? Her garden was thriving again, safe, and she and her brother began to sing the praises of delicious game dishes. Venison stew in particular, I believe. As much as Borago disapproved of the whole affair, I certainly didn't hear of him turning down a plate of that stew, the stodgy old thing! (Oh, don't repeat that either!)

I suppose that would all be well enough, except that Lovage has gone and got herself to helping the Bounders, and even the post! And oh! she's more puffed up than ever, I can tell you! Not that these aren't dark times, we've all heard the rumors, but really now, I can't say it's a proper thing for a comfortable and respectable Hobbit to be up to, is it? And if you think Lovage isn't the first to declare what is and isn't proper, you're very wrong!

Ah, well, I suppose it's none of my business at all, but from what I have heard, she's been scurrying about all over the blessed place. Hardly takes a moment to give a body a polite 'how d'ye do?' And--now don't repeat this--I heard from a friend of a friend that she's been paying especial attention to talk 'round the pub of some sort of group--made up of Men and Elves and I don't know what--that's going about trying to put the world in order or somesuch thing. Waywatchers, they're called. Which is all very good for Men and Elves and the like, but really! Lovage is very big on that sort of thing, though, let me tell you, and from what I heard, she stood right up and said that was a group she'd want to join herself! 'If we don't stop it outside our own borders, what will become of us all? It can't be allowed!' she says.

(As if such a thing would happen here--surely you don't believe everything you hear, do you?)

Well, I shouldn't wonder if she goes off on some harebrained goosechase and leaves poor Borago alone in that nice large house. You know, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if that prompted him to finally get the nerve to speak up to Tansy Woodbine. What? You never knew he wanted to do such a thing? You'd never think it to look at him, would you? Well, let me tell you, everyone knows it but her, and for these many years...now listen here and I'll tell you all about it--

--but don't repeat any of that, will you? Gracious!

An Unexpected Romance

Until recently, Lovage was a spinster with no marriage prospects, and no thought of having any. Life has a way of sneaking up on even the most diligent Hobbits, however, and to her surprise, she met a Hobbit of good family by the name of Roliadoc Thistlewick. Though the local gossips maintain that their personalities are too different to make for marital harmony, Roliadoc (perhaps rashly) proposed to Miss Lovage, who accepted with alacrity. Roliadoc, being of Tookish ancestry, is just as adventuresome as his new wife. Lovage was quite pleased to move entirely out of her family residence, leaving it to her brother Borago and his wife Tansy. Rolie and Lovie have purchased a farm complete with a fine home, tastefully decorated with some pieces in the Elven style.

Friends and Enemies

Friends:

Roliadoc Thistlewick: Lovage's husband

Whaylen Blackwarden: founder of the Waywatchers of Cardolan

Inzilador: a Man of Dol Amroth

Enemies:

Lovage despises wolves, after the long winter in the Shire. She has a special disgust for goblins and orcs.

Miscellanea

Lovage is patterned after the type of maiden aunts often encountered in Regency, Victorian and Edwardian literature.

The home she shares with her Rolie is at 5 Brookbank Road, in the Shire neighborhood of Bannockbury.

For some while she rode a bay pony named Bramble, a little mare that served as the riding horse for both Lovage and her brother Borago. Now that Borago has gone and gotten married, he purchased a cart and horse for his wife, and so passed Bramble on to Lovage. Bramble wasn't terribly suited to the adventuring life and Lovage retired her to the Shire. Nowadays Lovage rides a mettlesome spotted pony she has named Speckle.

Lovage's mother was a Bolger.

Family history has it that one of her ancestors went away to fight in Arthedain as an archer, and was lost there in battle.